Back To The Centre - Quareness Series 219th "Lecture".

With the current extent of obsessive labelling of those who disagree e.g. "far left", "far right", "fascist", "phobic",  "spreader of disinformation", "threat to democracy", "traitor", etc. we may wonder what has happened to "the centre" wherein the majority of us have always likely wished to dwell. Could it be that "the centre" is itself and always has been a shifting stance within the spectrum of opinion of a self rebalancing system of thought over time?

A cycle of such shifts can be seen throughout our modern history...sometimes swinging to the left and sometimes to the right...invariably followed in time by attempted corrective restoring. Currently we appear to be going through a sizable "to and fro" pendulum swing which seems to be exerting quite a robust psychological effect on many. But maybe there's room for optimism here in that extreme positions of whatever ilk likely can only be self defeating when they reach that turning point. And looking at our social and political environments in this way may in itself be effective in "lowering the temperature" of disagreement?  

For those generally "leaning to the left" it can be rather surprising to realise how far their locus has shifted since say the second half of the 1900s. Since that time the liberal/left viewpoint has tended towards defending of the status quo and opaque unaccountable government, big business, serious state-scale waste, censorship, political interference and nanny state imposition into ordinary people's lives and livelihoods. It's almost like those earlier socio/political values have been turned upside down with the sincere faithful edged away in an out-of-control negative sum power game by the "most aggrieved" and "most marginal" players.

The situation for most of those of "the right persuasion" has also apparently shifted in a largely similar direction (despite arguably having less of an adjustment to make) over that time revealing an ongoing reality of insiders (of both sides) as opposed to the outsiders (the bulk of humanity). And this largely artificial "back and forth" game goes on with most people uninterested in participating and wanting just to be left alone to get on with their lives. Really sincere and wise people surely know that the extremes cannot last and an alignment of the general wish for "the centre" and the inevitable turning of the partisan outlook will happen in due course. In the meantime it's probably not very helpful/healthy to react in an overly emotional way to such playacting and avoid giving sustenance to the "button pushers" on all sides.

To close here's a "centre piece" on the disruptive effect of our "gone overboard" politicals on "ordinary" lives - 

Edg in a long heses

Glorybeto godan

Hisblessedmudderer

Ises goawnouradat

Widyur codological ravin

Howcud yube fuckinfine

Yurmakin nosenseatall

Nonnon nosenseatall.

Ifi wasin doonaree

Oreven donnycarney

I'dhava betterchance

Ofknowinabout democracy

Whatthefuck are yugoanonabout

Atallatall

What's destoryrichie

Didya ruintheruin orwha.

Onde udderhand wecudsay

Feckdeholelottadem

Andlave defuckers

Toderown gooseangander

Grabbafew pints

Inde whatailsyahouse

Andlightout for

Degreat blueyonder.

(As the unfaithful departed J. Joyce might have put it).

Sean.

Dean of Quareness.

April, 2025.

Some observations on our rather bizarre socio/political state at this point in time where "the left" is claiming that "the right" has become extreme and lost its mind in seeking to end democracy, and "the right" is basically making the same claims about "the left".